April 11, 2009
Beth Velliquette, The Herald-Sun
HILLSBOROUGH — Tim Brown of Carrboro wants to return to Italy to teach English.
Terrance Adkins wants to study architecture on the west coast.
With big dreams but not a lot of money, both young men have enrolled in classes in the brand-new building at the Orange County campus of Durham Technical Community College.
Located on the south side of Hillsborough just off Interstate 40, the Orange County campus offers college transfer courses, various certification programs and continuing education courses.
Brown, 20, attended high school in Italy and wants to return to Italy as a teacher. He plans to earn a two-year associate degree at the Orange County campus and then transfer to UNC.
"A lot of it has to do with money and economics," he said. "This is a quality school for my price range."
Adkins, 19, lives five minutes away from the campus, and he, too, plans to study for two years before attempting to transfer to a school out west. Because the campus just opened last May, word hasn't spread yet about the many opportunities at the school, so Adkins' classes have only 12 or 13 people in them, which he likes.
"It's better than most community colleges that I've seen," Adkins said.
A two-year degree at Durham Tech costs about $2,848 in tuition and fees. At UNC Chapel Hill, tuition and fees for two years total $11,250. Neither figure includes the cost of textbooks or living expenses.
Statistics show that Durham Tech college transfer students, after two semesters at a UNC institution, have a higher grade-point average than third-year students who started at UNC as freshmen, said Dina Logan, director of the O.C. campus.
The Orange County campus has nearly 20 acres, but so far the school has only one building. That 40,000-square-foot facility houses 22 instructional spaces, including classrooms, computer and science labs, an e-library, faculty and student lounges and a flexible-use space that is used sometimes for EMS classes and sometimes for yoga.
This semester, 378 students are enrolled in the curriculum courses, compared to 254 last semester, Logan said.
Part of that 49 percent increase is likely because of the downturn in the economy, she said.
"People are looking for ways to get their skills more current, get new skills and make themselves as employable as they can," Logan said.
Besides the college transfer courses, the Orange County campus offers emergency medical technology and paramedic courses for people wanting a career in emergency medicine, as well as a medical responder course for high school students to introduce them to medicine.
"It allows a high school student to get into a potential career," Logan said. "They can go on to medical school or go on to become a nurse. They can work right out of school as an EMT and be working towards being a paramedic."
Other courses that lead to jobs include medical coding and medical office procedures, where students learn about filing medical insurance, records management and coding.
"It takes about a full year to complete a certificate program," Logan said.
Another set of courses that leads straight to a job is the opticianry courses. Normally they're held at the Durham campus, but the building there is being renovated so this year they're being held on the Orange County campus. It's a five-semester course.
Durham Tech is the only school in North Carolina and is one of only 22 in the nation for making eyeglasses, said instructor Barry Dark.
"There's a tremendous need for opticians," Dark said. "We've always had 100 percent placement."
Other popular courses are real estate, building codes and inspections, adult basic education and GED, and courses for high school students in which they can earn college credit.
Plans are under way to offer an alternative energy tech program with a focus on solar installation, green building design and materials and a LEED examination prep course.
The school also offers continuing education classes, usually at night, and 704 students are enrolled in those courses this semester, Logan said.
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